The Chill
by Timeloopy
Summary: A bit of Suliet fluff. . .a tiny bit of Jate.


_Author's note: Just a bit of Suliet fluff. I'll get back to finishing up the longer stories after Christmas. Hope everyone has a good holiday!!_

There was a chill in the air when James woke up, so he rolled over to reach for Juliet. She'd be warm – woman was like a furnace while she slept – especially lately. He patted the warm spot where she'd been laying but it was empty so he rolled over onto it and waited for her to come back.

After a few minutes, the chill set in again and he opened his eyes in the dark. Where was she? It wasn't like auto-mechanics got called out for emergencies in the middle of the night. She'd told him once that it was one of the benefits of the cover they'd selected for her – no two a.m. call-outs. He threw back the covers and reached for his coveralls. Damn, it was cold. Wasn't this supposed to be a tropical island?

Light seeped out around the edge of the bathroom door so he padded over and tapped lightly at the wooden panel.

"Jules, you okay?"

No answer.

He reached for the knob and pushed the door open – it was empty although it did appear she'd been in here, otherwise the light wouldn't be on. He was pretty sure the lights had been out when they went to sleep. His eyes were adjusting to the moonlight through the windows so he didn't turn the lights on as he passed through the house.

Maybe she couldn't sleep and didn't want to bother him. That didn't happen much any more. Not like it used to. There was a time when one or the other of them awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat almost every night. Sometimes clutching at the other for comfort and sometimes slipping away so the other could sleep undisturbed.

She wasn't in the den but the lamp was on beside the couch – Under the Dome lay open on the arm of the sofa. She read when she couldn't sleep and this was her latest endeavor. But she wasn't here so he switched off the lamp and scooted her book over to the end table so as not to lose her place.

He moved to the kitchen where again there was evidence of her presence but no actual Juliet. A saucepan sat on the eye and he checked to be sure she'd turned it off – a bit scatter brained lately but he'd learned better than to mention it. She'd blistered his hide with the tongue lashing she'd dished out when he'd told her that he guessed what they said about blondes was true. There was a green mug in the sink that had been decorated by a childish hand – 'Juliet' with the J super-sized and the t scrunched up right beside the handle. And a flower covering up a good part of the 'u'.

His tour of the house didn't reveal the missing woman so he paused in the kitchen again and rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin. She had to be somewhere. She'd have woken him if she was sick – or if. . .

He went to the kitchen and picked up the phone and dialed 15. A small phone network where you only needed two digits.

"Hello?" A woman's voice.

"Is she there?" James said and his voice was still gruff from sleep.

"Who? Who is this?" Kate said from the other end of the line.

"Juliet."

"You're not Juliet – Juliet's here."

James shook his head even as he breathed a sigh of relief. Kate was distracted with something.

"I'm coming over," James said, putting down the phone before she could tell him not to. She could have woken him up before she left. He'd been worried sick – okay, not worried sick but working himself up to it for sure.

As he clattered up the steps onto Kate's rickety porch, Jack grabbed the broken porch railing at the side of the porch and swung himself up to join him.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked as they both reached for the doorknob at the same time. They both grabbed it and though they glared at each other neither let go.

Finally, they jerked it open with such force that the top hinge gave way and the racket brought Juliet to the door.

"Nice." was all she said though the eye-roll and toss of her head said volumes. "You needn't have both come. We had everything under control."

"I saw the lights on," Jack said in defense.

"You didn't tell me you were leaving, I thought maybe. . ."

Juliet turned back to him and rested her left hand lightly over her swollen midriff.

"You thought I wouldn't wake you up if I was in labor?"

"Well, I . . ."

"Trust me, Ford. I'm not that sweet. When the pain comes, there's not a chance in hell I'm letting you sleep through it. "

Jack grinned and James glared at him in return.

"You should have told me you were leaving," James muttered. "I was worried."

Juliet's emotions marched across her face – another difference James had noted in pregnant Juliet versus the cool calm ice queen she'd been the first time they met. It was like playing slots – he waited to see which emotion was going to settle and was immensely relieved when an affectionate look settled into place – click, click, click.

She walked over and kissed his rough cheek.

"I was already up. Couldn't sleep – I think your son is going to be a kicker for the Cowboys."

"Quarterback – I think he's going to be a quarterback."

Juliet fixed him with a warning stare and he stopped talking.

"You boys could make yourself useful and fix that porch before someone else gets hurt."

Jack's brow wrinkled. "Who's hurt?"

"Aaron had a little fall earlier. Kate thought he was okay but then he couldn't sleep and she saw our light on so she came over and got me to take a look. I think it's a hairline fracture so I splinted it and gave him something for pain. She's reading him a story to settle him down – he needs some rest."

She turned to Jack. "Of course if you want to offer a second opinion, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

Jack hesitated.

"She really won't mind, Jack," Juliet said gently. Things were still pretty rocky between Jack and Kate but Juliet could sense Kate thawing toward Jack even if he couldn't. Jack searched Juliet's face and sensing that she was being sincere, headed toward Aaron's room.

James held out a hand and Juliet took it, he spun her around so that her back was against them and they locked hands crisscrossed over the baby she was carrying. He nuzzled his cheek against her hair and she sighed with contentment.

"He's going to be okay then?" James said against her ear.

"I think so. Little boys play rough." This time her sigh was less content.

"Maybe ours is a girl?"

"And you really think any girl of ours won't play as rough as the boys?" Juliet questioned and he could hear the smile in her voice.

"I suspect any girl of ours will hand the little boys their . . .uhm. . .behinds if they mess with her. I wouldn't have it any other way."

The offspring in question gave a hard kick and they both felt it. James laughed and turned Juliet around to face him.

"Scares the hell out of me," he said.

"Having a baby?" she asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"Waking up and you not being there," he said, looking away from her face. "For a second, I always think that none of this ever happened. That we didn't get tossed into 2009. That you didn't wake up on that cot and tell me that you were having our baby and that you were sorry you didn't tell me before. That I never got a chance to show you that I'm really with you now. That she was really part of my past."

His voice cracked and he blinked. She was vaguely ashamed for a moment that she hadn't believed him when he told her that before – that she'd risked everything they had now – that if things hadn't gone the way they had she'd have died and their child with her.

"I love you," she said and her voice was all but steady.

"I love you more than you can imagine," James whispered back. He took her hand and led her to the sofa where she laid her head over on his shoulder and they held hands – her tracing circles with her thumb over the calluses on his palm.

"We should go home," James said. "Pretty sure Jack can handle a hairline fracture."

"Mmmm," Juliet said sleepily.

"Get up, woman. Before I have to carry you back home. You ain't as light as you used to be."

"And whose fault is that?" she murmured but she let him pull her to her feet alongside him as he rose.

"That's one I don't especially mind taking the blame for," he said with a chuckle and they went down the hall to where Kate and Jack both sat on the edge of Aaron's bed talking softly in the dark.

"We're heading out," James said.

Jack looked up, "Right."

"Thanks, Juliet," Kate said. "I wasn't sure if I was just being paranoid or what."

"No problem, " Juliet said though her exhaustion was evident.

James and Juliet walked back to their place in silence. They didn't talk about the day that the small plane had landed on the island carrying that odd assortment of 'gifted' children who thought they were coming to a special school. They didn't talk about how happy Sun and Jin had been to see Ji Yeon or the delight on Kate's face when she'd seen Aaron again. They didn't need to talk about it because they'd both been there – both seen the island call its children home.

Back in the bedroom, Juliet settled onto her left side and James wrapped himself around her. Because, she wasn't gone. She wasn't lying in a cold grave somewhere.

She was warm.


End file.
